Unexpected Kinship
by JackieStarSister
Summary: My first drabble series. After Sozin's Comet, Katara halfheartedly gives a reluctant Ozai healing sessions. But what do you say to the person who took away everything you had? *Cover art courtesy of the AvatarSpirit website.*
1. Unwanted Kinship

_Published November 28, 2011_

**Author's Note:** This was going to be a oneshot/short story, but I can't string all the bits of conversation together that well. So I'm doing it as a sort of drabble series instead. They're not rigid 100-word drabbles; some will be shorter, some longer. Let me know if you like this style; I may or may not do more fanfics like this.

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><p>Zuko didn't plan to see Ozai again, after he asked about his mother's whereabouts. They had nothing more to say to each other.<p>

The prison guards sent word that Ozai's health was deteriorating. A combination of injuries from his battle with Aang, the minimal conditions of prison, and his loss of will to live.

Zuko didn't let himself be concerned. He tried not to care. And yet …

"He's still your father," Toph said. "Your flesh and blood. If he dies, a part of you will die with him." She knew what it was like to have a complicated relationship with parents, especially a father.

"He'll have to die eventually," Zuko said coldly. "It'll put an end to his suffering."

Katara put her hands on her hips. "Aang saw value in his life. He did everything he could to avoid killing him. If he dies when it's in our power to prevent it – how is that any different from killing him?"

Zuko sighed. "Well, you're the only one in the group who hasn't had the pleasure of meeting him. I guess it's only fair."

Toph and Katara were more sisters to him than Azula had ever been. They understood his feelings better than he himself did. They knew that Ozai's death would affect him more than he realized.


	2. Unexpected Visit

_Published December 9, 2011_

**Author's ****Note:** Thank you for such enthusiastic reviews! You've motivated me to update quickly. This chapter turned out a bit longer than I'd planned (considering it's a "drabble"). Please, let me know what you think!

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><p>Ozai had more or less resigned himself to solitude. The only people he came into contact with were the guards who brought him food. Some were still terrified of him, the former Fire Lord and Phoenix King, who had once wielded so much power. But once they got used to his angry silence, some mock him for failing to defeat a child and for his pathetic state now.<p>

He knew he was getting sick, but he didn't care. He had lost the human instinct to fear death. He no longer cared whether he lived or died. His life was nothing.

He was slightly surprised when the Fire Lord and a teenage Water Tribe girl came into his cell, but he shrugged it off indifferently. He refused to meet the two teenagers' gazes; but his eyes flickered up to glance at them.

Ozai was the first to break the silence. "I didn't think I'd see you again."

Zuko set his jaw. "Believe me, this is the last place I'd like to be."

"Oh, my sentiments exactly." Ozai's eyes fell on the girl in blue. Her expression was neutral, but her eyes were studying him intently, taking in his ragged clothes and disheveled hair. "And this is?"

"My friend," Zuko answered simply.

The girl looked at Ozai steadily. "My name is Katara, and I am the only waterbender left of the Southern Water Tribe." She said this calmly, with a kind of defiant pride.

"How nice for you," Ozai sneered.

Katara adjusted the water pouch strapped across her chest. "I have healing abilities, too. That's why I'm here."

"I don't want your help," Ozai growled. He didn't want anything from _them_.

Something briefly flared up in the girl. "Don't want to accept help from a water peasant? Don't want to stoop that low?"

Ozai just scowled.

"Quit trying to act proud," Zuko burst out. "It's pointless. You lost it all. All you have left is your life – and you're going to keep it, whether you want it or not."

Ozai seethed for a moment; Katara thought his eyes smoldered the same way Zuko's did when he was angry or hateful. After a moment his broad shoulders sagged in defeat.

Katara knelt down next to the bars, as close as she could get. She could feel him watching her as she uncorked her canteen and swirled the water in the air and around her hand, which she stuck through the metal bars. His eyes were still narrowed in suspicion, but she also saw a flicker of curiosity. She wondered if he had ever seen a waterbender before. Probably not.

His surprise and curiosity only increased as she moved the water over his arms and chest. Her hand hovered just above his clothes, guiding the water over him. He could feel his blood moving beneath his skin; the aching subsided; he almost felt strong again – at least as strong as any normal, healthy person.

Zuko knew the feeling. Katara was a healer. She took away as much pain as she could. She soothed people who were hurting, physically and emotionally.

"Better?" Katara asked. Ozai just shrugged. He was almost, but not quite, disappointed when she guided the water back into her container. He might have liked to feel her healing him a bit longer, but he didn't want them here anyway.

"I won't be coming back here," Zuko promised. "Good-bye." He turned on his heel and walked away. Katara glanced back at Ozai a moment longer before following her friend out.

Ozai thought about thanking her; but he changed his mind.


	3. I'm Not Doing This For You

_Published December 26, 2011_

**Disclaimer:** "I'm Not Doing This For You" is a chapter title in "A Million And One Ways to Say I Love You" by BananaSwirl, and a bit of Katara's dialogue is based on a line from it.

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><p>A week went by. Another monotonous, melancholy week.<p>

Ozai heard a slight disturbance outside his cell. The guard barked, "Who's there?" There was a pause, and then a horrified gasp. "Master Katara!" He said this with respect.

"I'm going inside. I'm going to heal him. You're going to stand guard. And no one is going to know about this."

A moment later, the door to his cell was unlocked, and more torchlight streamed in from the hall. "Ten minutes." Without the important Fire Lord, visitors had a time limit.

"Thank you." Katara turned and faced him.

"You again," Ozai noted.

"That's right," she said evenly.

There was a pause.

"Why did they let you in?" Ozai asked.

"Without Zuko, you mean? Because I'm an ambassador of the Water Tribe now, and a friend and ally to the Avatar and the Fire Lord." She removed the water pouch from her back. "Let's just get this over with."

Katara worked quietly. Ozai's burns from Sozin's Comet had healed almost completely; his bruises were now gone. His problem now was mostly fatigue and lack of movement.

Both were silent as she worked. Katara didn't like the silence; she wanted to say something to him. But what does one say to the man who very nearly destroyed the world?

He was the reason her mother was dead, why the world had endured so much suffering.

She was the reason he had lost his bending, his throne, his country, his respect.

Katara supposed could talk about Zuko, but Ozai hated him. She wondered about Zuko's mother, but she hardly thought it her place to ask. Maybe later …

"Are you all right here?" she asked hesitantly. "Do you have enough to eat? Do they let you have medicine?"

Ozai shrugged. "They let you in, didn't they?"

Another pause.

"I was in a Fire Nation prison, once," Katara said conversationally.

Ozai raised his eyebrows at her. She continued, "In the Earth Kingdom colonies, a friend of mine was arrested for earthbending. I framed myself for earthbending so I would also be arrested, and then I could find out where he was and break him out. Later he helped in the Day of Black Sun invasion."

"Hmph." Ozai knew she was almost done. She bended the water back into her canteen. He spoke up. "I suppose I should thank you."

Katara merely looked at him, understanding. He supposed he should thank her, but he didn't.

"I'm not doing this for you," she said roughly. "I'm doing this for Zuko – and his mother if she's still alive."

Ozai's eyes – gold, like Zuko and Azula's – widened at the mention of his wife, but then his features froze back into his expression of cold indifference and resentment.

Katara stood, and part of what she had kept bottled inside her came pouring out. "He loved you, you know. That's why he literally went to the ends of the earth to please you. He loved you the way you were supposed to love him: unconditionally." She turned on her heel and left the cell, slamming the metal door behind her.

Ozai stared at the door for a long moment after she left. Just who did she think she was? She thought she was so righteous, that she had all the right answers. Easy for her to say … she wasn't the one who had lost everything, after being so close to gaining everything.


	4. The Family and the Fall

_Published January 12, 2012_

The next time Katara came, she brought tea. "From Iroh," she explained. "Since he can't see you himself – he's living in Ba Sing Se now." She slid the cup between the bars.

Ozai didn't take it right away. "And how _is_ my brother?"

Katara frowned. "He's very well, actually." If he wanted pertinent information – like how Zuko often wrote to Iroh to ask for advice – he wasn't going to get it.

"Hm." Ozai seemed to be turning something over in his mind. Then, after a moment, he spoke again.

"Is Azula here?"

Katara looked surprised. And she was – not just because he was asking her a question, but because of the question itself. "No. Did … no one told you?"

"What?"

Katara looked almost embarrassed. She didn't look at him when she spoke. "Azula went insane. We think it started when Mai and Ty Lee betrayed her at the Boiling Rock prison – you heard about that, didn't you, when Zuko and our friends planned a jailbreak?"

Ozai nodded.

"My father and brother were among the escapees. Anyway, when her two best friends turned on her, Azula started getting paranoid. And when Zuko and I came to fight her during Sozin's Comet … well … she went kind of crazy. She's in a mental hospital now."

She dared to glance at him. There was no sympathy or sorrow in his expression, only condescending disappointment and bitterness.

He was remembering the last time he saw Azula, two days before Sozin's Comet. She had sounded … desperate, pleading with him.

She hadn't just lost a throne, as he had; she had lost her mind. She had been weak – weaker than he had thought Zuko was – and he hadn't realized it.

Katara's soft voice broke him out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry."

Ozai just glared at her. "No, you're not. You fought her, didn't you? You're part of the reason she's insane."

Katara looked at him. Then she set her jaw. "I meant, I'm sorry for what happened to her. But I'm not sorry for what I did." _It had to be done,_ she thought but didn't say.

She rotated the cup in her hands. "You know, Zuko asked Iroh to fight you at Sozin's Comet."

Ozai looked up sharply. Katara continued, "Iroh wouldn't do it. He said it would be the wrong way to end the war, having a brother fight a brother. He didn't want to have to kill you, if it came to that."

He hadn't known. Ozai narrowed his eyes at the girl. "Why are you telling me this?"

Katara shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even know why I bother coming here."

They sat in silence for a moment. Then Katara said finally, "I know Zuko hopes your time here will put you on the right path. I guess I thought I could help with that."

"Then you'll be disappointed." He looked at her with dislike. "You're just another unwanted reminder."

"Reminder of what?"

Ozai didn't answer. There was brooding silence for a long moment, as Katara thought over his words. A new thought occurred to her.

"Are you jealous of me?"

Ozai was surprised at her directness. "What do you think?" he asked rhetorically. She had everything he didn't – youth, bending, freedom, power, a future …

Katara bit her lip. When she spoke, her voice was hard. "You brought this on yourself, you know. You and Azula. You were both born with a gift. You were born with power. But you abused it. There's a lesson to be learned from that." Then she stood and left, before he could make an angry response.


	5. Unforgiven Offense

_Published December 6, 2012_

**Author's Note:** This chapter is dedicated to the lovely LadyAvatar, author of the Zutara epic "Fire and Ice". She's the one who asked me to add another chapter to this story. I'll move this chapter later to place it in the middle chronologically.

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><p>It was Sokka who gave Katara the idea, a perturbing but logical idea that she should have thought of earlier. She wasn't sure whether or not she should address it; but then, she already knew the worst of the story.<p>

She brought tea again, and poured two cups, though hers was mostly for show; she didn't think she'd be able to eat or drink while discussing this topic. No words were exchanged between her and Ozai as he accepted the cup she passed through the bars

Finally Katara spoke. "There's something I want to ask you. I just thought of it because it might have had to do with you." Katara tried to steel herself, not knowing what the answer would be, or how it might affect her.

"Did you know Yon Rha?"

Ozai frowned, but otherwise his face remained as blank as usual. "Not personally." He vaguely remembered a man of that name seeing him, perhaps once or twice in his short reign.

"Think back. He was the leader of the Southern Raiders, until he retired four years ago."

"What is he to you?"

Katara willed her voice not to tremble. "I want to know if killing the last southern waterbender was his idea, or if you or someone else ordered him to do it."

Ozai dimly recalled hearing a report of a waterbender being found and killed in the Southern Water Tribe; he hadn't paid it much thought, because it changed nothing of the Tribe's strength. It hadn't been like Zhao's attack on the Northern Water Tribe, which had required authorization and a massive invasion force.

"If he led the Southern Raiders, then he would already have had the jurisdiction to make such an attack." He paused to take a sip of the tea. He ignored the girl's gaze on him. "You must know the war of attrition started long before your time, or even mine."

"I know; I even met a waterbender who survived your prisons. It changed her—horribly." Katara clenched her hands around the teacup. "But back then, the raiders captured when they could avoid killing. We weren't so lucky, the last time they came." Katara paused to take a drink, though she did not taste the tea; she tried to relax her throat as she swallowed.

"Tell me."

Katara's head snapped back up to look at him. Ozai appeared somehow coolly expectant, as though he didn't really care but would welcome hearing it.

The words came to her mouth slowly. "I met Yon Rha twice in my life. He led the attack on my home, almost seven years ago. He killed my mother." She did not sound sad now, but contemplative, just a bit sorrowful. "None of us could understand it … she was the only casualty of that raid. There was no reason for him to kill her."

She paused. Ozai didn't prompt her to continue, but then she went on anyway. "After Zuko joined us, he offered to help me find Yon Rha. We tracked him down, and he told us the full story. My mother had lied, to protect me, and told him that she was the last waterbender, the one he was looking for. He could have taken her prisoner. But he decided to kill her instead."

Ozai's expression was predictably free of sympathy or remorse. Katara hadn't expected any, though it might have felt good to throw such a man's crimes back at him, to tell him what his country—and by extension, what he—had done.

"So, you confronted this man," Ozai said. Katara nodded. "So he's dead now?" he asked, in lieu of asking what she had done next.

Katara's face darkened. "He was alive, when Zuko and I left him."

Ozai looked at her strangely. Was that amusement in his eyes, or condescension? "After all that searching … you let him go."

Anger flashed in her blue eyes, directed at him for the first time during that visit. "If he were still an officer, and killing him would have prevented more deaths—then I would have done it. But as it was, the only person it would have benefited was me."

And that hadn't been reason enough? Ozai wondered.

"I didn't forgive him, if that's what you're thinking," Katara interjected. "I just—" She hadn't wanted to stoop to Yon Rha's level; but she wasn't about to say that to the former Fire Lord.

The story reminded Ozai unwillingly of Ursa, another mother who had (in his view) gone out of her way to protect her child. No wonder Zuko would have wanted to help this girl; his past was almost as tragic as hers.


	6. Unknown Similarities

_Published February 7, 2012_

By now Katara was used to discreetly making her way into and out of the prison. She almost felt confident – until she saw the shadow of someone coming from around the bend, in her direction.

Katara gasped and backed away, ducking behind the bend. The approaching figure had already heard her. But he didn't come upon her.

"Who's there?" the figure demanded.

Katara tried to sound assertive. "Show yourself."

"You first," the stranger growled.

Katara frowned. Did this person have something to hide, too? What if someone had been plotting with Ozai or another prisoner?

She heard a sound like scraping metal – swords being unsheathed. At this, she uncorked her canteen and bended the water out, ready to fight if necessary.

They turned to face each other at the same time, water and dual swords poised to attack. Then her opponent froze, getting a good look at her. "Katara?"

She staggered, hearing the familiar voice. "Zuko?"

He pulled back his hood, and the torchlight illuminated her friend's face.

"You've been visiting him?" they exclaimed at the same time.

They stared at each other with mutual incredulity.

"I guess we're even, then," Katara said.

"I guess so," Zuko said coolly.

There was an awkward pause. Zuko sheathed his swords, while Katara bended the water back into her canteen.

"You know it doesn't mean anything –" Zuko started.

"Of course not," Katara said quickly. "Nor for me."

"I won't tell if you don't," Zuko said.

Katara nodded. "… I guess I'll go."

"Right. I'll see you later?" Zuko gave her a halfhearted wave, heading for his father's cell.

Katara wondered what else she didn't know about Ozai and Zuko. Father and son were full of secrets.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I posted a new poll on my profile. Check it out!


	7. Unacknowledged Affinity

_Published March 4, 2012_

**Author's Note:** Sorry it's short; I want the chapters to be more like drabbles, and I want to make this story last a bit longer.

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><p>The guard wordlessly let her in. Katara guessed that he had been told not to reveal Zuko's visits, either.<p>

Once inside, Katara faced the prisoner. "So, I'm not your only visitor, am I?"

Was it her imagination, or was that almost a smile – no, a smirk – on Ozai's face? "You ran into Zuko, did you?"

"Yes. I thought he said he wouldn't come back here." There was an unspoken question in her words, but Ozai ignored it.

"What do you talk about?" Katara asked conversationally.

Ozai looked as though he were debating whether or not to answer. Then he said, "I'm the only one he knows who's been Fire Lord."

"He goes to you for job advice?" Katara was surprised, and maybe a little angry, but she supposed it made sense.

Ozai slightly altered the subject. "You're close to him, aren't you?"

Katara's answer was guarded. "Zuko lived with me and my friends, in hiding. We've had to work together before. So you could say that."

"Hmm."

Katara shot him a suspicious look. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"As though you don't know." It was the first time she heard him use sarcasm.

"What …?"

"You think you've won his heart, don't you?"

Katara's mouth dropped open. "I am _not_ – Zuko and I have never been more than friends!"

Ozai smirked, a scary expression on him. "What are you smirking at?" Katara demanded, in the same voice she used to reprimand Toph or Sokka.

"He saved you during Sozin's Comet, did he not?"

Katara sounded defensive. "He would have done the same for any of us – Avatar Aang, or my brother, or the other girls in our group." She wasn't going to mention that Zuko had a girlfriend, or that she herself was dating the Avatar – the last thing she wanted was to give Ozai any ideas about how he or others could hurt Zuko or Aang. She shook her head and muttered, "I can't believe I'm even talking to you about this." She frowned now. "Do you actually care about him? Or about me?"

She almost sounded as though she cared about his answer.


	8. Unspoken Answers

_Published March 24, 2012_

"Do you hate me?"

Another surprisingly frank question. As if there was any uncertainty of what his answer was.

He avoided answering by turning it around. "Do you hate me?"

Katara frowned. She didn't answer, either.

Of course they couldn't deny the enmity that still existed between them; but neither of them would acknowledge it, any more than they would acknowledge that they liked these visits.

Their mutual silence held more answers than either of them would have said aloud.


	9. Unspeakable Action

_Published April 12, 2012_

They had run out of things to say to each other.

Ozai passed his cup back to her, and as she took it, their hands brushed against each other. It was the first time they'd had physical contact – even while healing him Katara had never actually touched him. For a moment his hand lingered on her soft skin, longer than it should have. It was almost unnoticeable, except that they tended to be hyperaware around each other – or at least, they used to be.

But she didn't miss it. She gasped, wrenching her hand away. Her expression became angry, insulted, and a little frightened. She stood quickly – she was strong and agile, unlike him – and started to stream water from her pouch, holding it up with a threatening expression.

She stood in a defensive stance for a moment, but then lowered her arms, returning the water to her canteen. "You're not worth my time. You've made that quite clear."

And with that she turned and walked away. She thought about turning around and telling him he was a disgusting, pathetic old man; but she didn't. She just walked away, and she didn't look back.


	10. Unwanted Ending

_Published May 3, 2012_

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><p>She didn't come back again. Ozai was surprised to find that he was almost disappointed at this. But, he was convinced that it was her visits he missed, and not the girl herself. He hadn't realized before how much he liked having her visit. She gave him something to look forward to – anything to break the monotony. And she was proof that people still cared whether he lived or died.<p>

Eventually Ozai concluded that she must not have told anyone about that gesture. If she had, Zuko would have seen to it that he was punished.

After Ursa, she had been the closest thing he had to a friend. And he had pushed her away, just as he did with everyone else.

He started to resent himself. She had been disgusted by him. But then, he hadn't expected much else. Really, she had exceeded any expectations that he'd subconsciously had for her.

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><p>Katara would have liked to think that she had helped Ozai, but she wasn't that naïve.<p>

What had she expected, really? To teach him something? To learn something herself?

Katara _had_ learned one thing: Ozai was more like Zuko than either of them wanted to admit. Because, like Zuko, under the hard shell, Ozai had feelings that he didn't want to admit.


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